Archive for the 'Religious persecution' Category

Summary: Christian cleansing continued in post-Saddam Iraq as a car bomb outside a Christian church in the north of the country wounded 23 people and security forces found and disabled vehicles packed with explosives outside two other churches in Kirkuk. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on August 3, 2010, Aubrey Immelman provided his weekly report of U.S. military deaths in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.

Summary: As Anbar province became a stronghold for al-Qaida and other Sunni extremist groups after the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq, Christians and Shiites, feeling singled out, fled the area, until the town of Habbaniya Cece (population 10,150) had only one Christian family, down from about 70 families before the American invasion. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on January 20, 2010, Aubrey Immelman provided his weekly report of U.S. military deaths in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Summary: In an intensifying wave of sectarian violence against Christians in Iraq, militants attacked at least four Christian homes with a combination of grenades and bombs, killing two people and sending fear into the already terrified Christian community. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on December 30, 2009, Aubrey Immelman provided his weekly report of U.S. military deaths in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.

Summary: Iraqi Christians are approaching their grimmest Christmas since the U.S.-led invasion of 2003 and wondering if they have any future in their native land. They have suffered repeated violence and harassment since 2003, when the interreligious peace rigidly enforced by Saddam Hussein fell apart. Now the Christian community of Iraq, almost as old as the religion itself, is sensing a clear message: It is time to leave. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on December 19, 2009, Aubrey Immelman reported that U.S. Navy warships fired missiles at suspected al-Qaida training camps in Yemen, with that government’s support, according to Pentagon sources. One U.S. official said President Barack Obama personally ordered the missile strikes in northern Yemen.

Summary: The Islamic State of Iraq, an al-Qaida front group, has threatened more attacks on Christians after a siege on a Baghdad Catholic church left 68 people dead. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on November 3, 2009, Aubrey Immelman provided his weekly report of U.S. military deaths in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Summary: At least 58 Iraqi Catholics died and more than 70 were wounded when police stormed a Baghdad church where gunmen were holding dozens of parishioners hostage, threatening to kill them if al-Qaida-prisoners were not released. Since the war began, Iraq has lost half of its 1.5 million Christians. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on October 31, 2009, Aubrey Immelman reported that Microsoft Network (MSN.com), promoting its new Bing! search engine, featured a demo search of “angry Americans.” It caught my attention, because history has shown that times of economic uncertainty — as we’re currently experiencing while bogged down in two wars in the aftermath of 9/11 — can be a fertile breeding ground for extremist ideologies, as we saw in Germany during the Great Depression following a humiliating defeat in World War I.

Summary: The closure of what may be China’s first mega-church is the most visible sign that the communist government is determined to rein in the rapid spread of Christianity, with a crackdown in recent months that church leaders call the harshest in years. In mid-September, 2009, hundreds of police and hired thugs descended on the Golden Lamp Church in Linfen, Shanxi province, smashing doors and windows, seizing Bibles, and sending dozens of worshippers to hospitals with serious injuries. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on December 11, 2008, Aubrey Immelman reported that Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington’s 2008 Most Embarrassing Re-Elected Members of Congress report — which lists elected officials who have misused their position through illegal, unethical, or just plain outrageous conduct — features U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann.

Summary: Six Baghdad-area churches were bombed within 24 hours on July 11-12, 2009, killing at least four people and wounding 32. Iraq has lost more than half of the 1.4 million Christians who once called it home, mostly since the war began, and few who fled have plans to return.

Summary: For the first time in 15 years, a majority of Americans now call themselves “pro-life” rather than “pro-choice” on the issue of abortion. … Iraq has lost more than half of the 1.4 million Christians who once called it home, mostly since the war began, and few who fled have plans to return.

Summary: In an exodus that began after the 1991 Gulf War, and escalated dramatically after the U.S.-led invasion in 2003, Iraq has lost more than half its Christian population of some 1 million. … In the third such shooting in the Mosul area in less than a year, two U.S. troops were killed when a gunman in an Iraqi army uniform opened fire while they were distributing humanitarian aid in northern Iraq.